I'm baking a cake for a party on Friday night. When should I bake my cake and ice it. It's hard for me to find the time...I do it all in the evenings. (I work 40 hours outside my home). I just wondered if it would be okay to bake them tonight (Tuesday)? Thanks for you help.

Wrap it up really good with Saran Wrap and put it in the freezer. I find that my cakes are very moist after I freeze them. Thaw and then ice them on Thursday night.

HTH

Thanks for the advice. The only thing I forgot to mention is that I have 3 to make for this party. Not just one. So, it's going to be very time consuming to ice them all in one night. Would it be okay to make them tonight...refrigerate them...and pull them out to decorate them each night until Friday?

Baking tonight would be good.

That is what I always do. I give myself three days to complete the cake. I will bake tonight and then have Wednesday and Thursday to decorate. I also work a 40 hour week outside the home. I like for the cakes to be as fresh as they can be but still like to give myself extra time for any mishaps that may happen.

Good luck!

I find that once you have iced them, the cake stays nice and fresh for a few days without anyone knowing when it was that you baked. Sometimes I bake the cake, freeze to get that extra moisture then ice while still frozen and it is good on the counter (depending on what icing you use) for at least 2-3 days not being cut and it tastes great

That is good to know because i do all my cakes in the same day bake, make icing, and decorate by that time I am tired of looking at it!

Meme: If I bake, iced, and decorated all in one day I would pull my hair out! Kudos to you for ahving tremendous patience!!

I made a cake one time and took my three days to do it in and when I delivered it, the woman told me that they had a change of plans and the birthday party was postponed by four days. She stated afterward that the cake tasted like I had baked it hours before delivering it to her. So at least now I know that they will last a week, but I wouldn't actually plan for it to be more than three days old when I deliver.

I was to scared tot hrow that extra day in I will definitly start spreading it out more because it definitly can be overwhelming with a 2 yr old hanging off your leg begging for cake!

after you ice the cake, where do you put it? Do you still cover it?

I put a loose cover of plastic wrap over it just to keep the dust off. I usually place my cakes on top of the fridge just to keep out of reach. I know that most of my kids can still reach it but at least they have respect not to touch orders but the 2 year old...she sees cake and attacks it!! I have had to do a few repairs because of her!!